In two words: nice phone. Really nice. The T-Mobile G2x by LG is the carrier's latest Android superphone, and after testing it for a day, I can tell you I want one. It puts even my beloved Nexus S to shame with its classier build, soft touch finish that's easier to hold onto and 4G HSPA+. The G2x is the US version of the LG Optimus 2x, which was at launch the world's first Android dual core Tegra 2 phone. The LG G2x indeed has a 1GHz dual core Tegra 2 CPU and it's very, very fast. It's a pure Google experience phone, and that means vanilla Android 2.2 Froyo, which also helps with speed.

The phone has an 8 megapixel main camera that can shoot 1080p video with stereo audio in 3gp format (we'd like a higher quality format), and it has a 1.3 megapixel front video chat camera that works with the included Qik video chat app. It has 512 megs of RAM (that's fine for a pure Google phone that doesn't have to support a custom UI), and 8 gigs of internal storage as well as a microSD card slot.

The 4", 800 x 480 IPS display is very colorful and bright with wide viewing angles, and we found it more pleasing than our Nexus S display--it's not easy to beat Samsung's Super AMOLED but the LG display is clearer with more natural colors.

T-Mobile and LG bundle NVIDIA's Tegra 2 Zone that showcases the latest 3D Android games for dual core Tegra phones and tablets, and Need for Speed Shift, NOVA and the ubiquitous Asphalt 5 racing game are also on board. The phone simply eats these games up, as you'll see on our video. In fact, we just couldn't kill it, even when we had several heavyweight apps running at once.

Above: the Nexus S and G2x

Other goodies include T-Mobile TV, Zinio and HDMI out. In our video we demo the smartphone playing a 1080p video and Need for Speed Shift via HDMI cable to our 46" HDTV.

The LG G2x has a 1500 mAh battery, and quad band 3G/4G with support for both T-Mobile US and AT&T's HSDPA/HSPA+ bands (just in case that merger does go through). The phone will sell for $199 with contract and $499 without contract, and will be in T-Mobile stores on the 20th. You can order it from T-Mobile's website now.